This recent Newsweek article “R.I.P., Macintosh” has me thinking about whether Apple is going to continue to release new laptop and desktop hardware as well as their (now) “classic” operating system, OS X. The author, Daniel Lyons, makes a great point by saying that Apple has entirely ignored any of their traditional hardware platforms in favor of updates to the iPhone, release of the iPad and shifting consumer focus to their mobile operating system by renaming it then calling a press conference to discuss it.

I hope for the best and fear the worst, but suspect that there could be an exit strategy here for Apple. Shifting their focus to their proprietary devices (sound familiar) and away from the hardware and software that have become largely commodity gives Apple the ability to keep tight control over everything that goes onto their systems. No longer do they need to be associated with Open Source, no longer do they need to be associated with standard Intel processors and motherboards. They can double their efforts into making proprietary hardware with proprietary operating systems.

Both Apple, Steve Jobs specifically, and now Microsoft, not Steve Ballmer specifically it was Dan Hachamovich general manager of IE, have said that Flash isn’t cutting it on the mobile phone or regular PCs, for that matter. HTML5 with the H.264 codec is the future. Its going to be built into IE9 natively, actually.

Its about time there’s some standards here. Flash, Silverlight, Shockwave, QuickTime, etc. Hopefully in the future we’ll get a reprieve from loading all of this other software that could have security issues into our boxes.

Following this great article, I installed Windows Mobile 6.5 this morning on my HTC Touch Pro (Sprint, CDMA). This is the transition interface between Windows Mobile 6.1 (and prior, back to Windows Pocket PC 2000 even) with the original Windows Mobile interface and the new Windows Phone 7, Zune-convergence interface.

My experience has been pretty good, although the UI does studder a little when using it. I’m really getting used to at this point, but I have only been playing with it for about 30 minutes. 3 kids have a way of delaying some of my geeking off.

Its obvious that this is a way to start bringing the UI back to Microsoft, instead of partners like HTC, developing engaging phone user interfaces. This is something for Microsoft to be proud of, but I’d hardly argue that its a quantum shift in UIs, like the iPhone was when it first came out. Again, it is also obvious that Microsoft is trying to converge the Zune and their Windows Mobile line, as Apple has with the iPhone. Is it a surprise that Microsoft is aiming at Apple, given their dominance in the mobile music player market, and their coveted smartphones?

We’ll see if Microsoft gains marketshare through the work to develop convergence of their devices. What do you think? Feel free to share!

You should be able to mount Mac drives to do imaging using this, as I understand it. That would be really handy also because my MacBook Pro’s drive is making noises and it would be nice to just dupe it…

HFS for Windows enables the use of Mac-formatted partitions in Windows operating systems. Utilizing Paragon’s own unique technology – the Universal File System Driver (UFSD), Paragon’s HFS for Windows is able to extend the boundaries of Microsoft Windows’ scalability and interoperability.

This wiki page describes an easy process (still in alpha and invite-only) in which to install Boxee, an open source media player, on an Apple TV. With it, you can watch many more media formats than Apple TV currently supports – mainly DivX and Xvid files (which should be supported but aren’t). This “hack” would effectively make the Apple TV into a much more generic network-attached media box, which is something I’ve been wanting for a long, long, time.

I’m just playing around with my new iPod touch (including the spell correction feature while I type). It’s quite the little unit.

I do have a few bitches, though.

1) I bought a brand new iPod touch, but it didn’t come with the latest firmware. You gave to shell out an extra $10 to get the “apps” feature. I actually called Apple and bitched, but all I got was a support specialist who agreed with me.

2) Once you do upgrade, the apps are awesome (including the free WordPress plugin I’m using right now). However, there are big problems with the apps. They take forever to install and make iPod backups horribly slow (like HOURS long)

3) The apps crash often – usually locking up the iPod. I guess it’s still a bit more beta than I was hoping.

All in all, I’m very happy with it though. The “Remote” app is awesome. Also the “SimpleMedia” app let’s you stream from your computer to the iPod – VERY cool! There are a ton if other cool, fun, and useful FREE apps – and the number is growing everyday.

I mean, could you refute the lack of excitement these ‘test subjects’ showed. After all they didn’t even touch the workstation for what I could see, and the whole test was more of a presentation or non-hands-on demo. If you add a rattling noise or a cricket at any point when they’re made aware it is Vista what they’re experiencing, it could not have been more appropriate.

In any case, I think they should think about naming their experiments and the outcome carefully. Or some may say “The Mojave Experiment was a success, it feels arid, not much too see or feel there, Vista will leave you feeling like you’re… in a desert.